needs
adverbnounverbtop 1 000 in film dialogue
- United Kingdom//niːdz//
- United States//nidz//
Either directly or indirectly preceded or followed by an auxiliary verb, often must: of necessity or need; necessarily, indispensably.
adverb
- 1
archaicEither directly or indirectly preceded or followed by an auxiliary verb, often must: of necessity or need; necessarily, indispensably.
To haue no Schreene between this part he plaid, / And him he plaid it for, he needes will be / Abſolute Millaine,[…]
To begin therefore with Traditions, which is your forlorn hope that in the first place we are to set upon: this must I needs tell you before we begin, that you much mistake the matter, if you think that traditions of all sorts promiscuously are struck at by our religion.
Sole partner and ſole part of all theſe joyes, / Dearer thy ſelf then all; needs muſt the Power / That made us, and for us this ample World / Be infinitly good, […]
―And the maſter of my hotel, ſaid I, as I concluded it, will needs have it, Monſieur le Count, that I ſhall be ſent to the Baſtile— […]
Etymology
From Middle English nedes (“of necessity, necessarily; inevitably, unavoidably”) [and other forms], from Old English nēdes, nīedes (“of necessity; not willingly”), from nīed + -es (suffix forming adverbs from nouns). The English word is equivalent to need + -'s (possessive marker) and hence to need + -s (suffix forming adverbs).
noun
- 1
Also a form of needplural of need
Etymology
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
verb
- 1
Also a form of needthird-person singular simple present indicative of need
needs · Either directly or indirectly preceded or followed by an auxiliary verb, often must: of necessity or need; necessarily, indispensably.
Needs · A surname.needy · In need; poor.negative · Not positive or neutral; bad; undesirable; unfavourable.